China’s Microbrew Scene Goes Local

After years of swilling cheap mass-produced domestic beers like Yanjing, Tsingtao and Snow, Chinese microbrewers are starting to make a splash in Beijing’s craft beer scene.

Once primarily the bailiwick of expats, China’s own brewers are opening storefronts as more domestic consumers warm up to the idea of sipping a cold one that isn’t found in a convenience store. “A lot of Chinese young guys are getting involved,” says Pan Dinghao, founder of one such local pub, Panda Brew.

The emerging domestic brews aren’t yet comparable to Western craft brews — many have muted flavors that fall somewhere above a Yanjing but aren’t quite up to par with, say, the Honey Ma at American-owned and operated Great Leap Brewing — but there’s growing enthusiasm to educate the Chinese on flavorful indie-made beers.

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Last year in Beijing, Yin Hai opened NBeer Pub, a brightly-lit joint that includes 37 taps and 13 fermentation tanks. The pub currently has 25 domestic beers on tap, ranging from classic lagers to ales made with organic fruits and aged in local wood. Many are from microbrewers in other Chinese cities, including Master Gao’s brewery in Nanjing and Chengdu’s Zhanchun Brewing.

Mr. Yin’s own NBeer Summer IPA, which he describes as much smoother than an American IPA, is his most popular beer, selling for 45 yuan (about $7) a pint. “Chinese customers think American IPAs are too bitter,” he says.

NBeer’s biggest draw may be its behemoth refrigerator, which can hold 900 bottles of beer and is currently stocked with a bevy of imports. “It’s the biggest I know of, at least in mainland China,” Mr. Yin says.

Mr. Yin learned how to brew during summers spent in Ireland, where he traveled for work as an engineer. He started homebrewing in 2011 and liked it so much that he quit his job to make beer full-time. He was the first Chinese member and a co-founder of the Beijing Homebrewing Society, which started in 2012. In the beginning, the group was 90% foreigners, but now at least 60% of its members are Chinese, says society co-founder Jacob Wickham.

Owner Yin Hai is pictured in front of his 37 taps at NBeer.

Courtesy of Yin Hai

“The Chinese aren’t brought up to be creative, and this is one of those things you can be creative with,” Mr. Wickham says. “You have a blank canvas.”

The group’s changing composition reflects China’s growing affection for beer. Revenue for beer production in China increased at an average annualized rate of 10% from 2008 to 2013, totaling $30.8 billion, and per capita beer consumption increased at an annualized rate of 5.1% during the same time period, according to consumer-research firm IBISWorld. The total value of U.S. beer imported to China more than doubled from March 2013 to March 2014, according to the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office in Beijing.

On a recent visit to Panda Brew, a small storefront in a trendy hutong neighborhood, customers could choose from five craft brews on tap, from wheat beer to barley wine, for 40 yuan to 60 yuan. Though most of the ingredients founder Mr. Pan uses are imported, he also tries to incorporate local ingredients, such as the citrus orange honey from Hunan province used in Panda Brew’s honey ale.

Mr. Pan, 30, honed his brewing craft as an automotive engineering student in Ontario, Canada. After finishing school in May 2010, he returned to China to work at his family’s fertilizer business in Shanxi province. In late 2012, he decided to start brewing full-time.

“There are so few of us,” Mr. Pan says of his fellow Chinese beer makers. “There’s a lot of opportunity to expand.” For the moment, his storefront is tiny, with less than a dozen chairs, but he plans to open a second location this summer.

Elsewhere in Beijing, Li Zheng is creating quite the following at Heping, a small cozy bar tucked down a small alley. On a recent night the pub, decorated with fake greenery hanging from the ceiling and American knickknacks, such as a Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It!” postcard and a Massachusetts license plate, was packed with Chinese customers. The bar currently has eight beers on tap that Mr. Li makes with his friends, ranging from 30 yuan to 50 yuan, and a fridge full of imports. Mr. Li opened the bar about a year and a half ago with a friend—inspired, he says, by how much he loved the freedom of beer-making. His most popular brews are an IPA and Heping’s Rainbow Buckwheat, which he calls “our weakest drink.”

The weaker beers have a loyal following, brewers say, because Chinese consumers are still honing their taste buds as they begin to understand quality ingredients. “The biggest challenge has to do with the Chinese palate,” Mr. Li says. “Many people might wonder why they would pay 30 yuan for a beer when they can get a Yanjing for only 3 yuan.”

But reviews of Heping on local restaurant-rating website Dianping show customers are becoming more willing to shell out extra for unique tastes. One commenter said the IPA feels, “quite healthy,” adding, “Even if you drink a lot, there is no headache. The more you drink, the more high you’ll feel!”

And that’s exactly what Chinese microbrewers hope will happen over time. “It’s like wine,” Mr. Yin says. “When wine was introduced years ago, people thought it was too sour and mixed it with Coke. Hop beer will probably be trendy in 10 years when people really understand beer.”

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